A fugitive's wife charged with violating the Passport Law argued Wednesday in the first session of her trial that a government order to surrender her passport in 1988 was without grounds and unfair.
Takako Konishi, 56, whose husband is wanted along with other members of the Japanese Red Army Faction in the hijacking of a Japan Airlines jetliner to Pyongyang in 1970, pleaded not guilty to the violation as her Tokyo District Court trial kicked off.
Konishi did not dispute that she failed to surrender her passport in time.